The resorts had already closed their doors, the season was over when I went together with my riders and friends, Martin Seiler and Rafael Imhof, to the Simplon Pass with the last snow of the season. In this shoot I finally wanted to try out my new flash for the first time. After we had built the snow wall, we waited until it became solid and shaped a 1.2-meter hole out of it.
As we only had the dim light from car headlights and mobile phones, the spot was anything but easy to ride and to shoot. Martin needed several attempts to get his head through the hole. Since i was standing so close to the riders, I also had to jump away after taking the shot in order to protect my camera lens. Thankfully, we got some nice ollie-through-the-hole-photos.
We noticed then that the battery of our car died, but fortunately some ‘army dudes’ were close by. they helped us out and we finally left and drove down the mountain pass – with smiles on our faces.
Silvano Zeiter

About the shot

Biography
I was born in Switzerland in 1990 and I live in a small village close to the Swiss mountains called Fieschertal. Snow powder lies right in front of my door so I'm very fortunate. Riding some waves on a surfboard or splashing powder on the mountains are my passions, as well as playing the guitar after a ride at the beach or in an alpine cottage.
I got into photography when I was about 15. One day I had the opportunity to join a snowboard crew, who were lodging at our place, on a road gap shoot on the Simplon Pass. A pro-photographer friend of mine, Thilo Brunner, lent me his canon 1D and immediately I was so stoked that I decided I wanted to do this professionally some day. I met some pretty ambitious riders and in May 2008 I had my first shot published.
Today, I work with some snow and skateboard mags such as whiteout, Snowboarder MBM, Method Mag and others. i freelance also for some brands like eleven, nnim and my dear friends of hä?wear. Right now, I’m getting ready for university. Photography is still a hobby but it's my dream to become a professional photographer – but it's very important never to forget about the fun involved in shooting photos, not only in the art itself but also in every single shoot we take.